Speakers

Professor Kaye Chon serves as the Dean, Chair Professor, and the Walter and Wendy Kwok Family Foundation Professor in International Hospitality Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University's School of Hotel and Tourism Management. Before his tenure at PolyU, he held academic roles at several U.S. institutions, including the University of Houston, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Virginia Tech.

Under Professor Chon's guidance, the School of Hotel & Tourism Management at Hong Kong PolyU has emerged as a global leader in hospitality and tourism management education. For seven consecutive years, the School has secured the top spot in the "Hospitality and Tourism Management" category in the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects.

Professor Chon is a regular keynote speaker at international conferences and has contributed significantly to academic literature. He has authored or co-authored over 200 papers in international journals and professional publications, and has written or edited 12 books. His co-authored book, Welcome to Hospitality, is used as a textbook in over 100 hospitality education programs worldwide. Currently, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketingand the Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research.

In recognition of his contributions to tourism knowledge, Professor Chon was awarded the Ulysses Prize by the United Nations World Tourism Organization in 2011. This prestigious award, often referred to as the "Nobel Prize in Tourism," is given annually to a scholar for their lifetime contributions to the field.

Before embarking on his academic career, Professor Chon gained industry experience in the hotel and travel sectors in the United States. He holds degrees from the University of Maryland, Georgia State University, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, and Virginia Tech.

PhD, is Full Professor of Marketing in the Faculty of Tourism and Vice Rector for Academic Affairs at Eastern Mediterranean University. He is also Visiting Research Professor in the Faculty of Finance and Management in Wrocław at WSB Merito University in Poland and Eminent Scholar in the Department of Global Business, School of Global Eminence at Kyung Hee University in the Republic of Korea. He obtained his PhD degree in business administration from Hacettepe University in Türkiye. Dr Karatepe’s research interests are in the areas of services marketing and management, internal marketing, green management and marketing, and strategic management. He is the Managing Editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights and the Regional Editor for the Middle East and Africa of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. Dr. Karatepe, who has an h-index of 90 according to the Google Scholar citations database, has authored or co-authored over 200 articles in various journals, including Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Information Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Cleaner Production, Tourism Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, and International Journal of Service Industry Management (currently known as Journal of Service Management). His recent book, co-authored with Rozkwitalska-Welenc, M., Borzyszkowski, J., Basinska, B. A., Okumus, F. and entitled “Organizational Resilience in Hospitality and Tourism”, was published by Routledge in 2024. He guest edited a special issue with Shi, F. and Okumus, F. on Creativity in the Competitive Service Environment in The Service Industries Journal in 2022.

Dr Karatepe sits on the editorial boards of top-tier journals such as International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, Spanish Journal of Marketing, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, and The Service Industries Journal. Dr. Karatepe is frequently shown as one of the most prolific researchers in the field of hospitality management. He has appeared within 2% of the list of the world’s most influential scientists in all career-long and single year databases in the last five consecutive years (2020-2024). Dr Karatepe has 32 years of teaching experience gained at different universities such as Bilkent University, Baskent University, Atilim University, Eastern Mediterranean University, and National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism. His recent courses taught at the undergraduate, master, and doctoral levels are Marketing, Foodservice Marketing, Customer Service Skills, Marketing Management, Strategic Management, Internal Green Marketing, and Quantitative Research Methods. He has supervised 26 master students and 7 doctoral students so far.

PhD in Recreation and Leisure Studies (Waterloo), Professor and Assistant Dean of School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Professor Xiao facilitates learning, research and doctoral supervision in areas such as leisure and society, tourism and culture, China tourism, and knowledge development. He is Academic Committee Member of China Tourism Academy, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Encyclopedia of Tourism (Springer), Co-author of Poverty and Prosperity: Tourism in Rural China (Emerald), Managing Editor of Journal of China Tourism Research (Routledge), Corresponding Associate Editor of Journal of Destination Marketing and Management (Elsevier), and Fellow of the International Association of China Tourism Studies (IACTS).

Dean & McKibbon Endowed Chair Professor of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (SHTM) in the Muma College of Business at the University of South Florida (USF),  where he also held roles as the Director of the M3 Center for Hospitality Technology and Innovation, Coordinator of International Programs for the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, and Director of Global Partnerships for the Muma College of Business between 2010 and 2025. He is a renowned hospitality and tourism technology expert. Dr. Cobanoglu is a Fulbright Specialist commissioned by the Fulbright Commission which is part of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and World Learning (2018-2021). He is a Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) commissioned by Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals (HFTP) and Educational Institute of American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). He is the Editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology (JHTT)(Indexed in SSCI IF=6.4), Journal of Global Business Insights (JGBI) and a co-author of 6 books, 11 edited books and more than 20 conference proceedings.

Dr. Cobanoglu served as the chair of the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s (AHLA) Technology and E-Business Committee from 2009 to 2011 and a member of CHTP Advisory Council and Editorial Advisory Board of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP). In addition, Dr. Cobanoglu is a visionary board member of Hospitality Technology magazine and editorial board member of Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Cases, and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education.

Dr. Cobanoglu also serves the industry as a consultant. He is the founder and chair of Global Conference on Business and Economics (GLOBE), Global Conference on Education and Research (GLOCER), Global Conference on Business, Hospitality and Tourism Research (GLOSEARCH) and Global Conference on Services and Retail Management (GLOSERV). Dr. Cobanoglu created a curriculum for hospitality software: innRoad Property Management System, M3 AccKnowledge Hotel Accounting System, and M3 Insight Hotel Business Intelligence System. He is serving as the President of Association of Global Educators (AGE).

His research involves the use and impact of technology in the hospitality industry. He published more than 100 peer-reviewed academic articles in top journals. He founded and managed the eXperimental Guestroom (X-Room) at the University of Delaware’s Courtyard by Marriott from 2007 to 2009. Dr. Cobanoglu’s work has been featured in national and international media outlets such as BBC, NBC, ABC, CN8, Futurist Magazine, New York Times, Boston Globe and Lodging Magazine. He published in scholarly journals such as Tourism Management, The Service Industries Journal, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, and International Journal of Market Research. His articles have been cited in more than 10,000 times and he has made numerous presentations in national and international conferences.

He received “Excellence in Research-Tenured” award from the University of South Florida in 2016 and 2019. He is the recipient of International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education’s Stevenson W. Fletcher Achievement Award in 2020. He has taught courses in six different countries. He has been invited as a keynote speaker to more than 50 conferences. He received 14 best paper awards from International conferences. In 2013, he was named as a “Fellow” by Academy for Global Business Advancement (AGBA).
Prior to joining the Virscend University and University of South Florida, Dr. Cobanoglu served as an Associate Professor of hospitality information technology at the University of Delaware. Dr. Cobanoglu is the recipient of University of Delaware’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2009 and the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education’s (I-CHRIE) John Wiley & Sons, Innovation in Teaching Award in 2009. He received his undergraduate degree from Cukurova University, Turkey, masters and doctoral degrees from Oklahoma State University, USA.

For more information, visit his website at cobanoglu.com

Professor Shen graduated from Tsinghua University in China with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Structural Engineering in 1986, received the Sino-British Friendship Scholarship to pursue his PhD studies in the UK in 1988, and earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Salford in 1993. He joined PolyU in 1994 as an assistant professor and was promoted through the ranks to Chair Professor of Construction Management in 2008. He served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment for 13 years since 2007, Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate concurrently from 2008 to 2014, and Interim Vice President (Student Affairs) in 2018.
Professor Shen has a proven track record of accomplishment in construction management with a special interest in sustainable construction. His outstanding academic achievements have been recognised locally and internationally. He has been appointed as a member of the Engineering Panel of the Research Grants Council in Hong Kong since 2017, a member of the editorial boards of several leading journals in construction engineering and management, and has been invited to give keynote presentations at many international conferences. He was appointed as a member of the built environment panel of the Research Assessment Exercise in Hong Kong in 2006, and was the Chairman of the Global Leadership Forum in Construction Engineering and Management Programs between 2014 and 2016. Professor Shen is recognised as one of the world’s “Highly Cited Researchers 2023” by Clarivate Analytics for his significant research impact, as reflected in his publication of multiple papers that have been frequently cited by fellow academics. The list identifies 6,849 the most influential scholars from around the world, determined by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in the Web of Science citation index over the last 11 years.
Professionally, Professor Shen is Eminent Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Value Management. He was appointed as a member of the Advanced Construction Technologies Sub-committee of the Construction Innovation and Technology Fund between 2018 and 2020. As a certified Value Management Facilitator (List A), he has provided professional services for the design and construction of a number of large and complex construction projects. He received the prestigious Presidential Citation Award from SAVE International (the premier international society in advancing and promoting the Value Methodology) in 2009 for his “energetic and engaging effort to enhance value research and education”.

Hilton Tashkent City has cemented its status as a premier destination for business travellers by winning the prestigious title of “Uzbekistan’s Leading Business Hotel” at the 2024 Asia & Oceania Ceremony of the World Travel Awards. The glittering event, held this week at the City of Dreams in Manila, Philippines, brought together the best in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries, with Hilton Tashkent City standing out as a beacon of excellence in Uzbekistan.
The World Travel Awards are renowned for recognising and rewarding the best in global travel and hospitality. Winning the title of “Uzbekistan’s Leading Business Hotel” is a significant achievement for Hilton Tashkent City, reflecting its unwavering commitment to providing top-tier services and amenities tailored to the needs of business travellers.
Located in the heart of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, Hilton Tashkent City is strategically positioned to cater to the demands of corporate guests. The hotel is part of the vibrant Tashkent City International Business Center, making it a prime location for business events, meetings, and conferences. Its proximity to key government offices, multinational corporations, and cultural landmarks further enhances its appeal to both domestic and international business travelers.
Hilton Tashkent City is distinguished by its state-of-the-art facilities designed to support business activities. The hotel boasts an impressive range of meeting and conference rooms, all equipped with the latest audiovisual technology and high-speed internet. Whether hosting an intimate board meeting or a large-scale conference, the hotel’s versatile spaces can be customised to suit any business requirement. The Grand Ballroom, with its elegant design and expansive space, is particularly popular for high-profile corporate events and galas.

Michael Shamshidov brings over 25 years of hands-on experience in the tourism industry, having built pioneering platforms and strategies that have shaped the travel ecosystem across Central Asia. He is the founder of the expert brand Tourismolog (tourismolog.com), co-founder of the Central Asia Tourism Forum (samarkandforum.com), and previously led OrexCA.com, recognized as Central Asia’s first online tour operator.

As a consultant, trainer, and public speaker, Michael blends entrepreneurial practice with strategic insight. His work addresses three fundamental questions for tourism growth: How to unlock a destination’s potential? How to benefit from emerging opportunities? And how to tackle challenges from a national perspective?

He has collaborated with global institutions including the World Bank, ADB, UNWTO, USAID, and GIZ focusing on sustainable tourism development, destination marketing, digital transformation, and local capacity building.

A passionate advocate for turning ideas into action, Michael represents the practitioner’s voice at OBOROT2025. where practical implementation meets academic frameworks. His work is rooted in real-world conditions, yet always forward-looking: bridging grassroots experimentation with regional scalability.

As Vice President of Beijing Yunji Technology Co., Ltd., Mr. XIE Yunpeng is responsible for the company's regional development and innovative product business. Mr. Xie led to sign strategic cooperation agreements between YUNJI Tech and multiple provincial governments, investment institutions, hotel groups and research institutions, driving the development of the regional AI industry chain and industry innovation. Mr.Xie is also in charge of cooperation projects with key strategic partners such as China Mobile, Sinopec to achieve market promotion breakthroughs for the company's strategic product "Composite Multistate Robot", and maintained a leading position in market share.

Editor in Chief of Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research and Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing.

Managing Editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights and the Regional Editor for the Middle East and Africa of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

Associate Editor of Journal of Destination Marketing & Management and Consulting Editor in Chief of Journal of China Tourism Research.

Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Technology and Journal of Global Business Insights.